D.C. police are seeking help from the community to identify a man captured on video performing a sex act on himself with a cucumber in the driveway of a home in the city’s Truxton Circle neighborhood near Dunbar High School, according to both a police press release and  police incident report.

“On Friday, September 6, 2024, at approximately 5:00 p.m. the suspect was in the 200 block of N Street, NW.,” the police press release says. “The suspect performed a lewd act in view of the public,” it says. “The suspect then left the scene.”

The police incident report lists the offense committed by the unidentified man as “Lewd, indecent, or Obscene Acts.” The report says  the homeowner called police to report the incident.

The local online publication DC News Now spoke to the homeowner whose security camera video, which she posted on Reddit, shows the man removing a cucumber from what appears to be a lunch box and crouching down and appearing to insert the cucumber in his anus while standing behind the homeowner’s car parked in a driveway.

“I was so disgusted, and freaked out,” DC News Now quotes the homeowner, Catherine Baker, as saying. “I want people, I want my neighbors to know and keep an eye out for this person,” Baker told DC News Now. “There’s a lot of kids, there are high school students, they walk themselves to and from school, but we all have to be vigilant about this kind of thing,” Baker is quoted as saying.

The police report, which identifies Baker as having contacted police to report the incident, describes what appears to be the suspect’s actions as captured on the video, which Baker provided to police. It says the man, identified as Suspect 1, “went on to move from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle in front of respondent 1’s [Baker’s] window and continued to perform lewd and obscene acts to the cucumber.”

The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately reach Baker for further comment.

She told DC News Now that she had not seen the suspect in her neighborhood prior to seeing him in the video from her security camera. The publication reports that Baker noticed that at one point the suspect appears to notice the security camera as seen in the video.

“It was that eye contact that really unsettled me, because it then continues for longer than one would imagine,” DC News Now quotes her as saying. “And of course, then he saves the cucumber for later, so it really leaves one with a lot of questions that no one wants to have on their mind,” she told DC News Now.

She was referring to the video that  shows the suspect placing the cucumber back in his lunchbox before he walks away from the scene carrying the lunch box through an alley next to the driveway where the incident took place.

The police press release includes two photos of the suspect taken from the video. It says anyone who can identify the suspect or has further information about the incident should contact police at 202-727-9099.

A NSFW video of the incident was posted on Reddit here.

The Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs are hosting a special event on Friday, Sept. 20, to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the repeal of the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that banned LGBTQ people from serving openly in the U.S. military. 

The event, called “Voices of Courage: Reclaiming the Legacy of LGBTQIA+ Inclusion In the Military,” will take place from 3-5 p.m. at D.C.’s LGBTQ Crush Dance Bar at 2007 14th St., N.W. 

An announcement from the mayor’s office says the keynote speaker at the event will be Under Secretary of Defense For Personnel And Readiness Shawn G. Skelly, who will discuss “her experiences of service and the future of the LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the military.”

Skelly, a military veteran, will be joined by another veteran who will also speak at the event, Pip Baitinger, who currently serves as LGBTQIA+ Veterans Outreach and Relation Specialist in the Executive Office of the D.C. Mayor. 

The announcement says the event will also include an official reading of a proclamation to be issued by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declaring Sept. 20, 2024, as LGBTQIA+ Veterans Day in Washington, D.C. 

“On this day, we honor and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ veterans who have served with honor and bravery, and we reaffirm our dedication to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for all who have served our nation,” the mayor’s proclamation says. 

A statement from the mayor’s office says that since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law was repealed by Congress in 2011, with the repeal bill signed by then President Barack Obama, “LGBTQ+ service members have enjoyed greater opportunities to serve authentically.”

The statement adds, “However, many transgender, intersex, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming individuals still face boundaries to serve fully authentically in the armed services.” It says the event will allow attendees to “mix and mingle” and allow “veterans, service members, and military family members with lived experiences in navigating restrictive policies to discuss the work that still needs to be done today.”

Upwards of 1,000 people gathered in D.C. on Saturday for the first-ever Gender Liberation March, rallying for bodily autonomy and self-determination outside the U.S. Supreme Court and the Heritage Foundation headquarters. 

The march brought together advocates for transgender, LGBTQ, feminist, and reproductive rights, uniting the movements to protest attacks on healthcare access and individual freedoms.

The event kicked off just after noon at Columbus Circle, outside Union Station, where organizers had set up a stage. Throughout the day, speakers such as Elliot Page, Miss Major, and Julio Torres shared personal stories and highlighted the intersectional challenges of trans rights, abortion rights, and LGBTQ rights. Raquel Willis, a core organizer of the event, outlined the broad coalition of communities represented in the Gender Liberation March. 

“This march is for the queers, and the trans folks of any age. It’s for the childless cat ladies and babies and gentlemen and gentlethem. It’s for the migrants and our disabled family. It’s for intersex folks and those living and thriving with HIV. It’s for Muslims and folks of every faith. It’s for those who believe in a free Palestine. It’s for our sex workers. It’s for our incarcerated and detained. It’s for all of us who believe there is a better way to live and love than we are today,” she told the crowd. 

Nick Lloyd, an abortion storyteller from the organization We Testify, underlined the interconnectedness of the movements by sharing his experience as a trans man who had an abortion and discussing the support he received from trans women, emphasizing the significance of “radical solidarity.”

“When we fight for liberation, we need to make sure we are fighting for liberation for all of us,” he said in his speech. 

The Gender Liberation March is organized by a collective of gender justice-based groups, including organizers behind the Women’s Marches and the Brooklyn Liberation Marches. Rachel Carmona, the executive director of the Women’s March, also addressed the importance of solidarity across movements.

She acknowledged that some within the feminist movement have questioned the inclusion of trans issues but countered this view.

“The women’s movement necessarily includes trans people,” Carmona asserted.

The march organized buses from nine East Coast cities, and many attendees arrived in D.C. in the days prior. Chris Silva and Samy Nemir Olivares left New York early that morning to make sure they could participate.

“I actually heard [about the march] from my dear friend, Samy, two weeks ago, and I got energized by the idea, and we woke up really early today to take a 5 a.m. bus and make it here this morning,” Silva said. 

At 1 p.m. the crowd began marching toward the Supreme Court on a route that also passed by the Capitol. Marchers held signs and banners proclaiming “You can’t legislate us out of existence,” and “Our bodies, our futures.”

The Supreme Court has eroded individual liberties with recent decisions such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and is set to hear U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case with wide-reaching implications for trans healthcare, in October. Speaking through a speaker system in front of the Supreme Court, activist Aaryn Lang urged the crowd to remain vigilant.

“We do not have the luxury of treating very real threats like a difference of opinion. It’s not that type of time. They really want us dead,” Lang said.

Republican lawmakers in state legislatures are relentlessly attacking the rights of LGBTQ people, particularly trans individuals. This year alone, 70 anti-LGBTQ laws have been signed into law, most targeting trans rights, and at least 26 states have laws or policies banning gender-affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign. 

From the Supreme Court, the march proceeded to the Heritage Foundation headquarters. The far-right think tank created the Project 2025 initiative, a blueprint to overhaul the federal government and attack trans and abortion rights under a potential second Trump administration. 

Marchers chanted, “Abortion rights are trans rights,” as they approached the Heritage Foundation, where DJ Griffin Maxwell Brooks and booming music received them. The crowd quickly fell into an impromptu dance party and formed a circle where marchers took turns showcasing their vogueing. Trans queer performance artist Qween Amor noted that the march was attended by a group diverse in both identity and age.

“I think it’s very empowering to see not just my generation, but also seeing younger generations coming up and finding themselves in a moment where we can be liberated together and to see a mix of intersectional identities. I think, for me, [that] lets me know that, you know, I’m alive and that there’s hope,” she told the Washington Blade. 

The march then returned to Columbus Circle, where health organizations and political organizations had set up booths. Hundreds of banned books were distributed for free and all copies were claimed within two hours of the event’s start.

It was a particularly hot Saturday with temperatures reaching 87 degrees, but Columbus Circle continued to be filled with people late into the day. 

Page, known for his roles in films and series such as “Juno” and “The Umbrella Academy,” drew a large crowd when he took the stage to speak about his journey as a trans man. 

“When I was finally able to step back from the squirreling, foreboding, the self-battering, and torment, the messages to lie and hide grew faint. I was able to listen, at last, to embrace myself wholly. And goodness, do I want that feeling for everyone,” he said. “I love being trans. I love being alive, and I want everyone to have access to the care that has changed my life. So let’s fight for it.”